FAT32 to NTFS

Just to clarify something:

I've done all the research and I know how to do the conversion but I was wondering if it would be better to format before I do it.

I recently realized my new laptop's drive was FAT32 because...well, I was so happy to have a new toy after so many years of an inferior toy that I completely forgot. Now I have half the thing filled up with programas and creating the backup with BootIT is a prohibitively long process...

I don't want to wuss out on the process and settle for 512 clusters but I just don't have to time to babysit my laptop for that backup.

 

If you format it then you can choose to format it to NTFS. Then you don't have to convert it. As far as moving your files goes, copy them to another hdd, computer, external hdd, or onto a network. Making a backup isn't your only option. Also, why would you have to babysit it? You could use like Nero or another piece of software and just let it run while you're at work or asleep. then when you wake up or get home it'll be done.

 

I have to babysit it because BootIT won't backup to a DVD for some reason and I really don't want to go through as many CD's as would be necessary to make a backup.

I could see formatting it into NTFS as long as it gives me control over cluster sizes unlike windows' conversion tool. All I really need to backup data wise is schoolwork, game saves and my music which is probably a couple single layer dvd's.

 

I think FAT 32 and NTFS have 4kb cluster sizes, by default, unless your PC drive has been altered from the default.

To convert from FAT 32 to NTFS, go to Start--->Run.
Type in cmd and <enter>.

Then type in convert C: /fs:ntfs and <enter>.

Note the space after the first colon ).

This will not harm your data, according to p223 of my XP Bible book " Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks".

Remember this is a one-way conversion only, and you can't go back to FAT 32 from NTFS.

Bazza

===

 

Well, I'm willing to try it but everything I've read says the default is 512 and the conversion tool doesn't have the ability to create a 4k cluster size.

I'm not sure if it really make all that much of a difference anyway but if I'm going to do something I'd rather do it right than semi-right with the addendum "Meh, I think it's the same thing".

 

BEFORE you do this

Ask yourself why the current format is FAT. Has the laptop manufacturer included a rescue partition or disk which requires it to be FAT?

The penalty for change may be the loss of the rescue function.


Studio T

 

I believe he mentions the reason it was formated that way.

 

studiot, that is a great point... I didn't even think about that. There is a rescue partition on the laptop and they didn't send me a full MCE disk just a recovery disk.

Now I must ponder about my actions further...

 

If its a seperate partion, changing the main partion won't affect your recovery drive.

 

No it won't affect the recovery partition BUT
Sorry to contradict you CG but it depends on the Laptop make. Some put the bulk of the recovery information on the main (c drive and rely on initial start from a fat boot floppy. NTFS can't be read from a fat boot system, if used in conjunction with a fat boot floppy.


Studio T

 

Many users of Ghost have found this out to their sorrow!

Studio T

 

A few years ago Time Computers and others used a proprietary recovery system whereby if you invoked the recovery partition from their floppy it automatically reformatted the drive as FAT32. However the user was free to change to NTFS once back up and running, with the proviso that recovery would return it to FAT. So tigge am ybe OK, it just depends on the manufacturer reasons for choosing FAT.

Studio T

 

I'll have to check again. It may not even be there because I don't have the stock HD in the laptop. I'll probably do the conversion anyway if I can figure out whether or not the 4k cluster thing is a problem.

EDIT: I have an Asus but I don't really think it makes a difference.

 

Are you sure it is FAT 32, and not FAT instead?
512k clusters makes me suspicious.confused

Bazza

 

512b clusters are the default minimum for XP's conversion tool and I was looking for a workaround to get 4k clusters. I ended up just converting for now and not worrying about it, I'll probably be able to format in the near future anyway.

 

I'd be suspicious of confusion between cluster size and sector size. I'd also be suspicious of confusion between bytes (B) and kilobytes (KB).

512 bytes is the size of the standard sector size on IDE drives and has been for eons. I don't think that has changed. I suspect that's the number that rdmctigger has picked up -- not the cluster size. I'm not sure that the sector size can be changed without doing a low-level format, which generally can be done only by the manufacturer with an IDE drive.

FAT32 and NTFS use a standard 4KB cluster size (8 sectors) for smaller (sic) partitions, but they allow a larger partition size because those filesystems are not limited to 65,536 clusters like FAT16.

A 512KB cluster would be huge. And horribly inefficient in terms of use of storage space. I doubt that any filesystem would even contemplate using a cluster size that large.

 

I'm just flailing in the dark with this one, not something I've tackled before but that sounds reasonable to me

 

I think you all are a little confused

4, 8, 16, and 32k are default cluster sizes for fat32. Depends on the size, for which cluster size to be used.

These are apporximates, but:

512-8gb: 4kb clusters

8-16gb: 8kb clusters.

16-32gb: 16kb clusters.

32gb+: 32kb clusters.

Thats why Fat32 is considered ineffecient use of drive space for large drives. The cluster size gets huge.

Now, that said, ntfs uses 4kb clusters at the most, for drives above 2gb.

HOWEVER: The convert.exe tool provided by Microsoft, when converting to NTFS from Fat32, sets the clusters to 512 bytes for ntfs, not 4kb like they would be normally. (Not kilobytes). Therein lies the problem. Im no expert, but my guess is, its bad on fragmentation, but I don't know for sure.

Here is a link to help you convert and end up with 4kb clusters:

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.php

Hopefully that puts all the confusion to rest.

 

It's not a big deal anyway, nothing that can't be fixed later on since I don't have any desire to go back to FAT. I'll stick with the default settings until I can free up the time to do a format (which I need to do anyway so I can clean off all the bloatware) and then I'll change it from there.